Labour MPs hope EU deal is signal for soft Brexit approach

Britain will be able to carry out criminal records checks on EU nationals seeking to stay in the country after Brexit under this morning’s agreement.

The issue was previously seen as a sticking point in negotiations after the UK’s position met resistance from Brussels, reports AP.

But in what the Government sees as a victory, the joint document released on Friday makes clear that “systematic criminality and security checks can - in the specific context of acquiring status under the Withdrawal Agreement - be carried out on all applicants for status under the agreement and applicants can be asked to declare criminality”.

EU citizens seeking to continue living in the UK after the country’s departure from the union will be required to apply to authorities to have their status rubber-stamped.

British citizens living in EU express anger at the deal

Lisa O'Carroll

Campaigners for British citizens living in Europe have reacted with fury over claims from both sides that their rights have been guaranteed by the deal, claiming they have been “sold down a grubby river”.

They are concerned that while EU citizens living in the UK will continue to have the freedom to move and work around Europe, they will not, leaving them “landlocked” in the country they have settled in.

“This deal is even worse than we expected. After 18 months of wrangling the UK and EU have sold 4.5 mn people down the river in a grubby bargain that will have a severe impact on ordinary people’s ability to live their lives as we do now,” said Jane Golding, a British lawyer living in German and chair of the British in Europe campaign group.

They say the European Commission has reneged on a promise that UK citizens, who had moved to Europe in good faith, would continue to have freedom of movement rights

“This is a double disaster for British people living in Europe. At the moment, not only is it unclear whether we keep our automatic residency rights, but it looks like we can also kiss goodbye to continuing free movement beyond any agreed transition period – which so many of us who work across Europe rely on to support our families,” Golding added.

She said the UK “wasted a precious opportunity” to take up the Commission’s offer of status quo back in June.

EU citizens in the UK are also unhappy with the deal, especially the sunset clause that means their rights will only be governed by the European Court of Justice for eight years, and the requirement to register for a new “settled status” under British immigration law.

Nigel Farage has spent the day voicing his displeasure to the deal across media outlets.

When asked if the breakthrough was a victory for Theresa May, the LBC presenter told Sky News:

It’s a victory if you think paying away a gargantuan sum of money is a good thing, if you think giving foreign courts jurisdiction over this country for nearly up to a decade to come.

And, in terms of alignment, well, really what we are saying today is that the potential benefits of Brexit won’t be realised because we will not be able to put in place laws that suit our own industry.

Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage)

This is not a deal, it's a capitulation. UK Government has put too much on the table for absolutely nothing guaranteed in return. pic.twitter.com/19fxXn41E0

Universities are happy about the news from Brussels, especially on the status of EU nationals working on British campuses, as well as continuing membership of European-wide research and exchange programmes.

“Today’s announcement means that the 46,000 EU nationals working across the UK university sector have clarity that they can remain and work in the UK and gain settled status,” saidAlistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK lobby group.

“We also welcome the confirmation that people with settled status will be able to spend up to five consecutive years outside the UK without losing this status.

“It is positive news that the budget settlement reached means that UK universities, students and researchers will continue to be able to participate in valuable programmes such as Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ until at least the end date of current programmes.”

Brussels had been warned by countries around the world against giving Britain a better trade deal than is currently in place with any of the EU’s trading partners, officials said. A senior EU official said:

We cannot upset relations with other third countries. If we were to give the UK a very lopsided deal then the other partners with whom we have been engaging and entered into balanced agreements would of course come back and question those agreements.

Some of these agreements have specific most favoured nation clauses: if you give better to others you will have to come back and give us the same. So also for this reason we need to maintain this balance of rights and obligations.

The agreements reached between the European Union and the United Kingdom are good news and will minimise the costs of Brexit. I congratulate Michel Barnier and Theresa May for their efforts on everyone’s behalf.

Today’s agreement has been given a boost by European parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, who said MEPs were ready to support the move to the next phase of talks.

Giving the agreement a warm welcome, he said the UK had accepted many of the parliament’s wishes, including direct effect of EU law, meaning an EU national living in the UK can use the protections of European law in British courts, as well as paying down obligations accrued as an EU member.

Our recommendation to the European council is now to go to phase two of the negotiations and that will be an important statement by the European parliament in the resolution next week

The European parliament does not have a formal veto over this stage, but often takes a tough line on Brexit and can vote down the final withdrawal treaty, adding a wild card element to the final outcome.

Verhofstadt said a lot of the parliament’s wishes had been taken into account, but named five outstanding issues to be settled, if the parliament is to give its consent before March 2019:

Allowing EU nationals living in the UK to bring their future spouses and partners to the EU. Under the agreement only existing family members, rather than the future Ms or Mr Right fall under the agreement. Future children are covered by the agreement.

Ensuring “light-touch” and free procedures for citizens to register in the UK, placing the burden of proof on the UK authorities. MEPs want a single application form for families

The parliament is not satisfied with the language on the European court and will seek further guarantees that the ECJ’s writ will be binding.

Securing free movement rights for British nationals in the EU, allowing, for example, a Briton in Spain to move anywhere else in the EU, rather than being tied to Spain.

More detail on how to avoid a hard border on Ireland.

Sitting alongside him, Elmar Brok, the Brexit co-ordinator for the centre-right European People’s Party, suggested that no one should get carried away with today’s deal.

This is not yet the withdrawal agreement, it is an important step [towards] the withdrawal agreement.

Some interesting thoughts from a Westminster source with good knowledge of northern Ireland and questions relating to the border.

They argue:

The Irish government never wanted any east-west/sea border between which would have been disastrous for its own economy, but has cleverly used the issue and the DUP to completely outmanoeuvre the UK government.

In particular they claim the Irish government has achieved:

full alignment with the single market and customs union on the island of Ireland even if that means the entire UK adhering;

EU rights, entitlements and benefits for all citizens born in Northern Ireland guaranteed, because everyone born there is entitled to Irish citizenship;

complete compliance with EU equality and human rights frameworks;

all underpinned by the “1998 Agreement” which the DUP opposed, as did Michael Gove and other senior Tories and indeed which caused Arlene Foster to leave the Ulster Unionist Party and join the DUP; and

the icing on the cake for the Irish is the reference to single market and customs union rules applying to future - ie more expansive - north-south co-operation.

'No transition deal for Gibraltar'

Daniel Boffey

As it stands, Gibraltar will not enjoy the cushion a transition period, EU officials confirmed, and will drop out of the Single Market and the Customs Union when the UK leaves the bloc on 29 March 2019.

EU officials confirmed the Guardian’s story last month that an arrangement over the future of the rock needs to be struck between Spain and the UK, if the transition arrangement is to be extended to Gibraltar.

EU officials have made it clear that Theresa May’s suggestion that the transition period is in reality an implementation period, during which future arrangements such as customs checks could be introduced, is incorrect. There will be a “cliff edge” at the end of the transition period unless a future trade deal is in place by then, a senior EU official said.

The Conservative former Brexit minister, David Jones, has warned the “full alignment” plan to maintain a soft Irish border could stop Britain signing free trade deals with other countries. He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme:

The worry about that, of course, is that that could well relate to very important areas such as for example agriculture, which we would want to throw into the mix in negotiating a free trade agreement with a third country.

And, if this were to persist, then it could severely handicap our ability to enter into those free trade agreements.

He called for the issue to be refined in future negotiations, alongside the introduction of a cap for the divorce bill, claiming the “back of an envelope” figure mentioned so far could rise “considerably”.

Ouch! MEPs are already dispelling claims that that the cost of withdrawing from the EU is likely to be less than £35bn (€40bn).

MEPs reached by the Guardian are saying it is impossible “at this stage” to really evaluate the Brexit divorce bill, suggesting today’s optimism is premature.

“It’s going to be more than €40bn for sure,” said the Greek MEP Giorgos Kyrtsos, who sits on the Economic and monetary affairs committee, which is regularly updated on Brexit negotiations.

It’s very difficult to estimate what the bill will be when we don’t know what the long-term obligations of the UK will be, and whether there’ll be liquidation of European assets.

The UK, he added, had investments in European banks and infrastructure that had to be taken into account and pensions that had to be paid.

The net contribution of the UK to the European budget is between €10bn and €12bn per year … right now, everyone is quoting a number that they want to hear but the impression that I - and those I talk to in Brussels - have is that it will definitely be more than €40bn. We are talking about a difference of €5bn or €10bn, which - in the grand scheme of things - is peanuts.

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has released a more detailed statement responding to this morning’s deal on the first stage of Brexit negotiations.

Describing the agreement as “a welcome step forward”, she signals a number of warnings to Theresa May, including the insistence that the Scottish government be “fully involved” in stage two negotiations on trade. Sturgeon says:

The next phase will be significantly tougher and it is essential all the UK’s governments are now fully involved in the negotiations on the UK’s future relationship with the EU – something that has not happened to this point.

While fully supporting the protection of the Good Friday agreement and the guarantee that there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland, Sturgeon goes on to highlight the continued contradictions in the UK government’s position, as she has done all week.

We will be seeking clarity on how the UK government intends to deliver full alignment with the rules of the Single Market and Customs Union. And there is no doubt that the provisions relating to Northern Ireland raise major new questions over proposed UK-wide frameworks that are the subject of on going talks between the UK and Scottish governments.

And I am absolutely clear that any special arrangements for Northern Ireland must now be available to other nations of the UK – the Scottish government will not accept any arrangements which risk putting Scotland at an economic disadvantage.

This reference to “major new questions” reflects her growing confidence that she can rebuild support for her own government’s stance on Brexit. That assumes special terms for Northern Ireland will fuel public anger that the Tories have no mandate to enforce a harder line for Scotland, given the country’s majority support for remaining in the EU and continued consensus that preserving the closest possible economic ties with Europe is the most desirable outcome.

Sturgeon said her ministers would continue to argue that case at the next meeting of the joint ministerial committee in London next week. Sturgeon concluded:

We will be studying the details of the phase one agreement but we welcome the fact that finally there has been some movement to guarantee the rights of EU and UK citizens – although it is disgraceful that it has taken this long and there is still more to do in phase two.

In addition it seems the UK could also now be paying around £50bn just for the right to negotiate an inferior trade deal than the one we have now.